My Buddy Buddha

I once worked with a person in the Arctic who was into Zen Buddhism. He was a very tranquil person, as one can imagine. Nothing got to him. He meditated regularly, did Tai Chi, drank all sorts of tea, and was in the most amazing shape I had ever seen someone.

Anyway, having to spend a lot of time with this guy, and me being just 23 years old, I absorbed much of his teachings. He told me that before he had become enlightened, he was a bad ass. Drove a motorbike, hung around with some hard cases, did drugs, the whole nine yards. Then one day, his brother asked him if he wanted to backpack through Asia. Having no current job, and possessing very little incentive to get one, he agreed to go.

This trip not only changed his life, but saved it. He ended up staying in Thailand…